Hello, readers!

I’m here to remind you that next Thurs., Sept. 27, we’ll be discussing Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, the book club pick for the month of September.

I’m nearly finished with the book and look forward to hearing your reactions to Berlin’s role in Larson’s historical narrative of Hitler’s rise to power. I’m particularly interested in getting into how things change for the characters—especially Martha and Boris—as they leave and re-enter the city.

So far, my favorite passage in which Larson depicts the tension in pre-World War II Berlin is this: “As the weekend progressed, the Dodds learned that a new phrase was making the round sin Berlin, to be deployed upon encountering a friend or acquaintance in the street, ideally with a sardonic lift of one eyebrow: ‘Lebst du noch?’ Which meant, ‘Are you still among the living?’” (321)

Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Thursday to discuss In the Garden of Beasts.